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Once an ANA is positive many doctors don’t bother running it again. The going theory is if you’re testing positive your body produces something it shouldn’t so they then concentrate on finding evidence of damage it’s causing.
“ANA Positive” should be in your medical records and stay there.
Once a doctor is convinced you have an active autoimmune disease and place you on medication they will check ANA again to see if the medication has had an effect. For instance, if placed on Plaquenil and the ANA turns negative, they consider it evidence that you indeed have autoimmune disease because you are reacting as predicted to Lupus meds. I suspect they then test periodically to see if the meds are still effective. My rheumy tests ANA once a year. But other doctors find this unnecessary. I guess my doctor feels it gives feedback about the effectiveness of therapy
If you are ANA negative but have symptoms a doctor should be ok with offering the occasional test. But ANA alone isn’t enuf to predict autoimmune disease and since a low ANA titer is found pretty regularly, running the test with routine bloodwork is unnecessary and could lead to a lot of drama and additional costs for no reason
Many things can cause a low but positive ANA including infection or a family history of autoimmune disease. The possibility of a deceptive positive result is likely why the test isn’t routine
Got ya. Thank you so much for explaining that! Yea because I was so symptomatic I think an Ana should have been run but at that tiMe I didn’t really know and drs never want to think lupus. Ruling out all other stuff. Yea to be honest when I got that positive Ana low titer, was on steroids a lot, but positive I was the happiest positive they ever seen! But my positive came when symptoms were very very outstanding. Thank you! Great info
The ANA test is not routinely run like a CBC (Complete Blood Count) because:
- Specificity: ANA tests can indicate the presence of autoimmune activity but are not specific to one disease. They can be positive in various conditions, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjögren’s syndrome
- False Positives: Up to 10% of Show Full Answer
Yep ain’t that the truth. And wish docs would all think that wAy Why do they repeat positives but negative is negative? Weird Repeat negatives. And don’t forget to account for lab errors, drawing errors, blood not corparating due to clotting disorders. And ect ect. Tricky tricky
It’s bloodwork not a transplant
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